Experimental testing of employing large grains as a bank erosion mitigation technique
Traditional engineering approaches to stabilizing streams (e.g. dams and cemented banks), typically alter a streams natural function and are expensive to maintain. Using large grains naturally found in a stream, could provide a way to stabilize the channels banks while still allowing natural system movement. To test if treatments of large grains could be used in river engineering projects, a physical model will be built. The large grain treatments will be subjected to environmental conditions typically experienced by river engineering projects. If successful, these experiments could provide the basis for the partner organization incorporating large grains into future river engineering projects.